No Liberals Here! (Adventures in Sunday School)

Okay, it might be an exaggeration to call anything that happens at church an adventure. We will stick with the series title "Adventures in Sunday School" nonetheless. This is the start of series about the experiences of a theological and political liberal in a conservative church.

On Sunday, my son (13) was told in Sunday School that he and his classmates were lucky that they did not grow up around liberals.

These are the type of things my son loves sharing with mom and dad on the way home from church, because he knows it will lead to some eye-rolling.

Eye-rolling really does best describe our reaction. Right-wingism at church does not make us upset much anymore. We just expect it. Laughing at it has been much more healthy for me from a social and spiritual perspective.

Apparently the lesson was on the last days and somehow global warming (as part of the end of the world) came up during the lessons. Yeah, still not sure why global warming or liberals were relevant to a Sunday School lesson for 13 year old kids.

Todd has experienced a lot of this since living in Wyoming. His Sunday School teacher in our previous ward (LDS term for congregation) spewed Glenn Beck and Cleon Skousen as though she had right-wing-conspiracy-theory-Tourette’s. One might conclude that the evils of socialism were a major theme of the 11 year olds curriculum. It isn’t. But said teacher was feared.

We understood a little better why she was so feared, when we found out from my campaign treasurer (a member of the same congregation) that she was telling people I was a good person…who had been deceived…by the devil…into being a Democrat. We are no longer in that congregation, though (thankfully) this lady is no longer teaching.

For Todd, he knows that his dad is pretty comfortable calling himself a liberal and/or socialist. As a Rawlsian, I am a clearly a liberal and I am pretty comfortable calling myself a democratic socialist.

In Wyoming, he might not be growing up around a lot of liberals…but his dad is one. He can laugh about the evils of socialism…because they are talking about his dad. He loves me. I love him. We are enjoying this ride together. While it might sometimes be a rocky ride, I am glad that my family is there for me.